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Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Today I went back to the desert to see one of King David's places in Israel. David is one of the great people in history. He was the 8th son of Jesse. He was the least favorite of the sons. He was sent out to the fields with the sheep most of the time. He was isolated which gave him much time to think.

God picked him to be anointed King. The Prophet refused to anoint him as King. God intervened. He then went into the army. He slew Goliath after no one else would step forward. Became general, won many battles. Saul became jealous. David fled into the desert by the Dead Sea. What is now called Ein Gedi. That's where I went today. David knew where to hide and where to find water. There are streams that still appear in the middle of nowhere and then disappear. There are even small water falls and you are able to swim in the fresh water.

Since he knew where to water his sheep, he thrived in the desert. When Saul died he returned and became King.

He was a great leader. Even though loved by the people, his son rebelled against him. David fled. He let a Absalom take over but he died in battle. Some say that he was killed by his own army. David grieved over his death.

David was also a sinner. He sent Uriah into battle. Many times he saw Bathsheba doing her ritual cleansing from his roof. Fell in love with her and had relations with her. Although the Talmud (the interpretation of the Torah) says that he did nothing wrong because when men went into battle, they were immediately given a divorce (interesting concept). For this act he was punished by not being able to build the temple, a worthy house for the Lord. But he raised the money to build it later. Although he brought the Ark of the covenant into Jerusalem.

Even though he sinned, he never lost faith in God. He believed in the forgiveness of God.

It is said that he was the "great singer of Israel". In the morning he would wake and read the Torah and sing a reflection on what he had written. Those are the psalms that we have today. Not only do we Christians pray those at mass, in the divine office, in the bible, the Jewish faith also prays them.

Since he was the great King, the messiah would come from his lineage. We know that Jesus is that messiah. The Jewish faith is still waiting for the great messiah to come to free them from their sins and oppression.

We know that we have been freed from our sins by our Savior and Messiah, Jesus Christ. As David never lost faith in God, may we never lose faith in God the father, Jesus the Son